


So Much For Happy Endings

by idontwantperfection



Series: Descendants AUs & such like [8]
Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Audrey isn’t terrible, Ben drinks his problems away, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Gen, Hades is a Good Parent, Mal overreacts, Post-Break Up, There is singing, the angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-14 20:07:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 20,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28801062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idontwantperfection/pseuds/idontwantperfection
Summary: I can’t do this anymore. I’m sorry. Find yourself a new Queen.When Mal breaks up with Ben out of the blue in the middle of their favourite bar, he does what any sane man would do. He turns to the barman.Rock bottom isn’t in the bottom of the bottle. It’s singing softly to yourself, half drunk, in the middle of your favourite bar.If he’s going to get his life back, he’s going to need all the help he can get.
Relationships: Ben/Mal (Disney: Descendants), Doug/Evie (Disney: Descendants), Jane/Carlos de Vil, Jay/Li Lonnie
Series: Descendants AUs & such like [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1960822
Comments: 86
Kudos: 68





	1. A Song to Remember

**Author's Note:**

> I...really don’t know what to say about this other than I think I’ve lost my mind. This started off as inspired by and then somehow it ended up with Mal rage dancing through the fields of the Underworld. I mean, I was on some major painkillers over Christmas but I don’t think I can blame those! Suppose if you’re going to spontaneously burst into song anywhere it’s got to be Disney, right?
> 
> Context: 25ish. Discounts D2 and 3. Mal didn’t lose herself the way she did after D1, but that doesn’t mean it was easy.
> 
> Ben’s Song: A Song to Remember by A Thousand Horses

Ben was drunk.

Completely, stupidly drunk.

And he could still see her. 

It had been a few hours since Mal had stood at the edge of their booth and ripped his heart out. 

_I can’t do this anymore. I’m sorry. Find yourself a new Queen._

He could still see her. She was standing _right there._ Right next to his barstool. Next to the jukebox. Across the street when he stepped out for some air. 

She was haunting him.

He didn’t know if he wanted to remember the way she’d refused to meet his eye when she said she was breaking up with him.

Or the way she’d smiled so brightly when he’d proposed in the Rose Garden two years before. The way she’d jumped up and down as she said yes. 

Or the way, barely two weeks ago, they’d made out in a dark corner of this very bar. Acting like lovesick teenagers just because they could.

They’d been talking about trying for a baby, even though they hadn’t got around to the wedding yet.

He didn’t know how they’d got from there to here.

The good memories hurt even more than the memories of tonight.

When Mal had walked out of the bar without saying goodbye, Ben was at the bar before the door closed. He’d ordered a whisky, downed it, and made straight for the nearest store. Twenty minutes later he was back in the bar, another glass and two cigarettes down.

Now, hours had passed. He was in the beer garden of the bar, uncaring of whether or not the paparazzi spotted him. Sat alone, with a double whisky in one hand and a cigarette in the other, he _did_ _not_ look like the Crown Prince of Auradon. 

That didn’t mean they wouldn’t recognise him. 

Didn’t mean there wouldn’t be repercussions. But he couldn’t find it in himself to care.

He’d turned his phone off after his second drink.

He didn’t want to see that she hadn’t messaged.

Didn’t want to deal with Cogsworth and Jane wondering why he hadn’t come back to the castle.

Didn’t want to deal with the messages from Evie and Doug when Mal inevitably ended up at their place.

He wanted to forget.

He wanted to be anyone but _Crown Prince Ben._

Ben studied the smoke rising from his hand intently, as if it held all the answers in the world. Mal would kill him if she could see him. It was a habit he’d picked up in high school from Audrey. Helped with the stress and the relentless pace of their lives. As long as it was never caught on camera, it was the one vice all royals were allowed.

He’d never forget the first time Mal caught him. They weren’t even dating, but she’d clicked her fingers and made it disappear. 

_Hades likes his souls without unnecessary years removed._

The admonishment had been enough to make him stop there and then. Mal’s disapproval somehow hitting him harder than the fact he’d been caught. He’d never asked her why she chose those words. How she knew that. He’d never asked her a lot of things.

The Mal in his mind was furious. Standing by the table, arms folded, eyes blazing, ready to rip the cigarette from his hand and stamp it out. 

In retaliation he took a long draw, and the spectre growled. At least his memory of her still cared.

He heard a song start over the speakers, and his stomach dropped as the melody hit him. He’d know those opening bars anywhere. 

A million memories flooded his mind. Their first dance at their senior Homecoming. Their first kiss by the Enchanted Lake. Dancing in the kitchen of their suite while cooking dinner. A million stolen moments at a million official functions.

He didn’t see it coming.

He didn’t know she felt like that.

He thought they were happy.

He was supposed to be living his happily ever after.

Maybe his big number wasn't serenading his True Love in the middle of a tourney match. 

Maybe it was singing softly to himself, half drunk, in the middle of their favourite bar. 

_“Can't go home, so I'll just stay here, find a way to make you disappear.”_

He took another mouthful of the whisky, desperately trying to remember how many he’d had. Wishing that this would be the drink that made him forget. Even just for a little while.

He couldn’t go home.

Not like this.

Mal couldn’t see him like this.

And he couldn’t face going home to find her gone.

He didn’t know what was worse. Stumbling home, smelling of whisky and smoke, only to find her asleep in their _\- her -_ bed. Facing her wrath in the morning instead of begging her to come back. Or stumbling home to find everything that she owned was gone. And that he was just left with the shell of their life together.

Gasping at the pain that shot through his chest at that thought, he decided he needed more whisky. Stubbing out his cigarette, he finished his drink in a gulp and slammed the glass down as he stood. 

Spinning on his heel, he strode back inside with the purpose of a man with nothing left to lose, _“Take a shortcut to the jukebox, to the barstool and a double shot, I'm smoking even though I quit.”_

He needed a break. Needed something. Anything. 

Needed to be numb. 

_“I need a song to remember.”_

Reaching the bar, he signaled to the barman for another glass.

_“And a drink to forget.”_

Turning around to survey the room, Ben leant back on his elbows against the bar. 

He was almost anonymous here. No one was staring openly. There were no phone cameras pointed his way. No one was live-streaming his life falling apart.

Couples were hidden away in the booths. College co-eds were over by the pool tables. A few lone drinkers were scattered along the bar. 

Anonymous was what he needed right now. Not an audience to his heartbreak. 

He didn’t know how to be Ben without Mal.

Not anymore.

Throwing his head back, he stared at the ceiling as he tried to convince himself that it would work out, _“I'm on my way to gettin' over you, but I ain't there yet.”_

Another song started up over the speakers, another knife to his heart.

This one was newer. But he’d never forget the remix Carlos created for Lonnie and Jay’s wedding - _Good Girls Go Isle -_ and the accompanying dance routine Jane had somehow talked them all into.

Lonnie had been speechless. The video went viral. 

Was that really just six months ago?

What was he going to do now?

 _“When the melody hits me, little coke in my whisky, I’m as close to good as I’m gonna get.”_ He turned and dropped back onto the stool. Leaning forward, he ran his hands roughly through his hair, gripping the strands as he tried to ground himself. 

_“I need a song to remember.”_

He needed to get it together.

Too many people were counting on him. 

Even if he was broken.

_“And a drink to forget.”_

The bartender came back with his drink, sliding it the last few centimetres down the bar. Before Ben could grab it, a perfectly manicured hand shot out to intercept it. 

Ben groaned audibly, recognising that shade of pink anywhere. He didn’t bother to look up as he remarked, “Good news travels fast.”


	2. And a Drink to Forget

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So while this does have a happy ending (all my stuff does) you’re going to have to hate me for a little bit longer. Until at least chapter 5. Some of you might not forgive me until chapter 6. 
> 
> Anywho, onto Ben’s continued breakdown! *insert smiley face*

“Good news travels fast.”

“Hardly.” Audrey rolled her eyes as she lifted the glass and took a sniff of the contents. When she realised what was mixed with the Coke, she pulled a face. “How much have you dropped on whisky tonight Ben? This isn’t the cheap shit.”

She would know. Even their teenage rebellions, long before Mal and the VKs came into the picture, had been fuelled by hundred dollar bottles of alcohol. It didn’t matter that they were underage - Audrey could get her hands on anything she wanted, and Chad had no issues with swiping the good stuff from his parents’ collection. The staff just replaced it and carried on. 

They got away with it because of who their parents were. Because of who  _ they _ were.

They were too young with too much power and no one had ever told them no.

It was the only reason Ben had been able to get the VKs over so quickly. So easily. That same confidence that had him sneaking into Chad’s dorm at fifteen to try whatever he’d swiped from the castle on his weekend home had him challenging national crime management policy at seventeen.

It was the same confidence that had him flirting with the new girl even though he had a girlfriend. That let him take a bite of a cookie that he was pretty sure was spiked, because the Mal he’d gotten to know was never that chirpy unless she was up to something. 

Because he was the son of Beauty and the Beast. He was a hero. Nothing  _ that _ bad ever happened to the heroes. Nothing that True Love’s Kiss and Happily Ever After couldn’t fix anyway.

Maybe this was his karma. 

Maybe he was still just a spoilt, over-privileged white boy who didn’t know how good he had it.

Maybe he didn’t deserve Mal in the first place. 

Maybe he wasn’t the hero of his own story.

Maybe he was the villain in hers.

Maybe this was the opening credits and he was the guy they booed at when she got her happy ending.

He needed another drink.

“Cheap shit doesn’t get you nearly half as drunk.” Ben mumbled, reaching for the glass, searching for the numbness that had so far eluded him.

Scoffing, Audrey held it back over her shoulder and fixed him with a glare Mal would be proud of. Realising he wasn’t going to win any arguments against Audrey - did he ever? - he flopped back on the stool. The force of his landing caused it to tilt back on three legs, but Audrey caught it with her heel and brought him firmly back to the ground.

In any other situation, Ben would be impressed with the power play. The way she asserted her dominance. He’d want to remember it for the next round of Council meetings.

As it was, all he could think about was that she wasn’t Mal.

He didn’t want to see pastel pink out the corner of his eye.

He wanted the vibrant eggplant that went so well with his royal blue.

He tried not to think about what Audrey’s appearance meant. That if she was here, everyone had to know. 

And if everyone knew, that meant Queen Leah was going on the offensive.

He really needed another drink. 

After thwarting his second attempt to reclaim his drink with a pointed  _ ‘behave’, _ Audrey turned to the bartender and cut him off with a sharp look. The bartender had the sense to look admonished under the gaze of the fifth in line to the throne and quickly replaced the whisky with a pint of water. Ben held out for a long moment before giving in and drinking it. He felt like a teenager being told off by his older sister.

Which was an odd way to think of his ex-girlfriend, but it was the space they occupied these days.

Things with Audrey had been better since they graduated. Once they didn’t have to see each other every day, once she wasn’t constantly faced with a reminder of the way he publicly humiliated her, things got better. They got back to being friends again. Audrey and Mal would never be best friends, but that was okay. Because Audrey was  _ his _ friend.

But Queen Leah was still driven by power and status. She wanted her granddaughter on the throne. Just this week Audrey had begged him to just marry Mal already so she could get her Grammy off her back and say yes to Chad.

He caught the fake smile she aimed at the bartender, and knew they wouldn’t be approached again tonight. 

He tried to think about what bottles were in his office. They were mostly for show during meetings. No one would notice if a few went missing.

And if they did, they’d just be replaced.

_ Just like they were when we were kids. _

Once they were alone - as alone as they could be in the middle of a bar - Audrey began whisper-shouting at the side of his head, “What the fuck did you do, Ben?”

Well, that wasn’t what he’d expected.

He turned, finally, trying to focus on Audrey’s face. She was blaming him, not reluctantly propositioning him, and that was odd.

Audrey didn’t slow down in her telling off, his changed position only gave her somewhere new to focus her glare, “Mal turned up at my place in a complete  _ state _ and asked me to give you an envelope tomorrow. I text you, but you didn’t reply. And then Grammy calls, she’s  _ ecstatic,  _ her spies are saying that Prince Ben’s going on some kind of bender.”

Ben didn’t say anything, just dropped his eyes to the floor. 

The drink was clouding his judgment. He’d thought he’d gotten away with it.

“There’s a dozen paparazzi outside and the only thing keeping them at bay is Cogsworth having a fucking aneurysm!” She hissed, gesturing angrily towards the window, but Ben didn’t look. The dread was already filtering through the haze, his body reacting to something his brain was taking longer to process. “For god's sake, Ben, you were hanging off your stool, singing _ into the bar _ when I got here! You’re lucky it’s me and not your dad dragging your sorry ass out of here!”

Ben winced at her words, realising Audrey had to have talked to at least once person in Beast Castle before heading here. That meant they all knew about Mal. He’d have to face his parents when he got home. He’d have to explain what had happened...when he didn’t even know himself.

With a groan he imagined the dozens of messages he’d have when he turned his phone back on. He thought about the magazine covers showing King Adam dragging his drunk son into a limo, and wondered how much worse those could be compared to arguing with his ex-girlfriend in a bar. 

Then, he put her words together in a way that didn’t involve his untimely murder at the hands of the Head of the Royal Household. “Wait. You saw Mal?”

All his question did was invoke another eye roll. As if she was surprised it took him that long to pick up on it.

“Whatever you did, you need to fix it.” Audrey reached into her purse and pulled out a blank envelope. The only identifying mark was the dragon seal on the back. This came from Mal’s office. 

His heart dropped.

This was planned.

She’d planned the whole thing. 

Another stab to his chest.

Under Audrey’s critical gaze, Ben quickly tore the envelope open, searching for answers. As he moved, he added quietly,  _ “She _ walked in here and ended things with me.  _ I _ was planning on talking about picking a wedding date.” 

Audrey didn’t respond to those words, to the fact he’d actually thought about her request, but he thought he saw something like sympathy flash in her eyes.

Tipping the contents of the envelope into his hand, he felt his heart stop. His signet ring - the promise ring he’d given her when they were seventeen - and her engagement ring landed in his palm. Audrey gasped, her hand covering her mouth in horror. Even through his drink induced haze, Ben knew Audrey hadn’t expected  _ this. _

Breathing deeply, Ben closed his eyes and tucked the rings into his blazer. He was thankful for the alcohol in his system, because he sure as hell would have broken down dealing with this sober.

Picking up the piece of paper that had landed on the bar, Ben wondered what Mal could possibly have written that she hadn’t said earlier. There was nothing that could top ‘I don’t want this anymore’.

He was wrong. 

He crumpled the paper with a growl and jumped to his feet. Audrey, to her credit, didn’t step back. Instead, she spoke slowly, warily, “Ben?”

Ben didn’t respond. Couldn’t.

He pushed the paper into her hands as he turned away, pacing the space behind his stool like a caged animal. Gripping his hair again, he began muttering under his breath, “This isn’t happening. This can’t be happening.”

He waited for Audrey to read the words. To realise what had happened. 

She wouldn’t gloat.

But she might tell him I told you so.

He needed another drink.

_ By the time you get this, I’ll be back on the Isle. Don’t look for me. You won’t find us once I’m underground. _

_ I love you. But you never really planned on making a Lost Girl Queen, did you? _

“Ben.” Audrey’s tone was resolute, cutting through his desperate thoughts. He didn’t stop pacing. Didn’t look at her.

Mal was paraphrasing anti-Isle sentiment that had been around for years. 

_ You don’t make Lost Girls Queen. _

_ You don’t hand the villain the keys to your castle. _

It wasn’t mainstream. It wasn’t representative of the Auradon he knew. The people loved Mal.

Someone had got to her. 

Someone had convinced her to leave.

He was going to…

“Ben.” Audrey’s tone was softer this time, but the hand in his arm was solid. If there was one thing that had always scared him about Audrey, it was how she could get people to do whatever she wanted without breaking a smile. Audrey was a powerhouse. A force of nature in her own right.

_ She was a spoiled little rich girl who had never been told no. _

Failure was never an option. 

The only thing she’d ever failed at was keeping him.

It made sense that Mal went to her. Audrey was one of the few people who could contain his meltdown no matter the setting. She was  _ wired _ to always consider the optics and minimise the damage to the crown.

Although why Mal cared about that when she was breaking their engagement, he didn’t know. 

Finally, reluctantly, he met Audrey’s gaze.

When she was sure she had his attention, she raised an eyebrow and simply stated, “We need Evie.”


	3. Gone

_ “MAL DID  _ **_WHAT_ ** _?” _ Evie screeched, standing in the doorway to her castle in a set of shorts and Doug’s half buttoned shirt. They’d obviously interrupted something.

Ben winced at the sudden change in volume, the bottle of whisky he’d drank finally catching up to him. Again.

The haze had worn off. He’d sobered up spectacularly after reading Mal’s note. Everything was too much. Too loud. Too bright. 

Everything  _ hurt. _

He didn’t know why they called it heartbreak. It didn’t feel like Mal had ripped out his heart and stomped on it. It felt like she’d taken everything with her when she’d walked out - his heart, his lungs, his stomach, all the things he supposedly needed to survive.

He wondered if this was how his dad felt when his mom went back to the village. If nothing else, he now understood why the Beast had just stood there and let Gaston shoot him in the back.

It couldn’t be worse than this. 

Doug appeared at Evie’s scream, running into view wearing just his pyjama bottoms, frowning when he realised who was in the doorway. Audrey, keeping her expression deliberately blank, gestured into the house. Evie nodded briskly and spun on her heel, pulling out her cell phone and typing away furiously.

Audrey followed wordlessly while Doug waited for Ben, his confusion obvious as he moved to close the door. “Why are you with Audrey at nearly eleven on a Tuesday night?”

When he reached around Ben to grasp the handle, he caught scent of the alcohol and smoke. Pulling a face as he clicked the lock into place, Doug’s tone became even more accusing, “What the-? Did you take a bath in a dive bar? You  _ reek _ of bad decisions right now.”

Doug wasn’t wrong. 

He had made nothing  _ but _ bad decisions since Mal told him she was leaving. Just not the kind Doug was thinking of.

He shouldn’t have let her leave.

He should have followed her. Fought for her. Convinced her they could work through whatever it was that was bothering her. That they were a team.

Instead, he’d done exactly what she’d expected him to. He took the blows, and while he was licking his wounds she’d put as much space between them as possible.

Bad decisions was an understatement.

“Mal left.” Ben sagged back against the wall, not ready to follow the girls into the kitchen yet. 

When he’d briefly thought about turning up here - somewhere around his third or fourth drink - he’d imagined anything but this. Evie would be pissed but would let him in. Mal would be in the kitchen with a giant mug of hot chocolate and avoiding his eye. He’d convince her to talk to him. They’d work it out. It would have all just been a bad day.

Being here without her...it felt wrong. Even more so turning up with Audrey.

He shrugged one shoulder, the movement coming a beat too long after the words to be considered smooth. He sighed heavily, then banged his head back against the wall. 

He couldn’t do this. 

If this was what he was like on Day 1, he’d never survive. 

“I thought she’d come here.” Another shrug. A mirthless laugh. There was pity in Doug’s eyes now, and Ben hated it. “Turns out she was leaving her rings with Audrey and running back to the Isle.”

“She went to  _ Audrey?”  _ Disbelief coloured Doug’s words - they all knew how out of character that move was. As much as they’d all moved on from high school, as much as Mal and Audrey were  _ friendly _ now, Queen Leah would never allow it to be anything more than that.

Turning up at Audrey’s penthouse, it was like walking into the lion’s den. Inviting intrusion from Leah. Drawing attention to it for her spies.

It didn't make sense. But Ben was too drunk, too heartbroken to put it together. 

“She knew Audrey wouldn’t ask questions.” He offered up the only theory that sounded plausible, but from Doug’s frown Ben knew he wasn’t convinced. The words came out automatically, as if they were about someone else. As if it was some other poor sod’s life that had just fallen apart. Another shrug. He tried again, “We both know Evie would have never let Mal leave if she’d turned up here and handed over an envelope.”

Doug made a noise of agreement, but before they could dissect it any further, they were summoned to the living room with a screech. 

“We better…” Doug trailed off as Ben nodded weakly.

He knew Evie would have called the boys. Maybe even his parents.

He was going to have to talk about it. Relive what had happened. Out loud. In front of an audience.

This nightmare was about to become very, very real.

…

“I don’t understand, why would she go back to the Isle? There’s nothing  _ there _ for her anymore.”

Jay looked like he was ready to punch something, preferably Ben. Thankfully, he was on the other side of one of the many mirrors in Evie’s living room. 

While Evie had discarded most of her mother’s ideals - finding a prince, becoming a trophy wife, that beauty was the first and only thing that mattered - there were some things that were just too hard to shake. She didn’t measure her success by the square-footage of her castle and just how many mirrors she could hang on the wall...but she did have thirteen rooms and owned  _ a lot _ of mirrors. 

Those mirrors were being put to good use today - Lonnie, Jay and baby Lyla were situated above the fireplace, Carlos was to their right next to the mirror holding Jane, Lumiere and Cogsworth. His parents were by the doorway, and Belle looked like she had been crying. Adam looked grave. Ben had seen that look before, when his father wanted to act, but was tied by the limits of his power. 

Cogsworth had begun to read him the riot act the moment the mirror connected, but when Evie had cut him off with ‘Mal’s missing’, Cogsworth had bypassed stress-induced aneurysm and gone straight into blind panic. Lumiere had brought out a bottle of scotch from inside the desk, and Cogsworth had downed the glass in one go. Adam had already told him off twice because his pacing was making everyone else antsy.

It certainly wasn’t helping Jay’s agitation.

“If she goes back now, someone like Uma or Gaston will kill her.” Jay glared at Ben through the glass, and he was pretty sure he’d be dead if they’d turned up in person. Ben couldn’t fault Jay though. He was pretty pissed at himself too. 

Ben caught a movement next to Jay, and his breath caught in his throat. Lonnie was sitting next to Jay, wearing one of his tourney shirts with the baby curled into her shoulder. As Jay got louder, Lonnie shifted, and despite most of them being out of the frame, he knew she had just grabbed Jay’s hand in an attempt to calm him down. Lyla gurgled away quietly, oblivious to the tension radiating from her father, grabbing at her mom’s T-shirt in the way only a four week old could. 

Lonnie had been pregnant at the wedding, but something to do with ‘implantation bleeding’ and ‘running through strips’ meant that she didn’t suspect anything until after the honeymoon. Ben hadn’t understood a word of it, but Evie and Jane had winced, then nodded in complete understanding, and he figured he was best staying ignorant.

Ben felt another lurch in his stomach when Lyla nuzzled deeper into Lonnie’s shoulder, a reminder that he didn’t have that future anymore. And he really, really wanted to.

Trying to distract himself from the pain, he turned his attention to Carlos, who was talking away after calmly cutting Jay off, “-note  _ actually  _ say?”

Carlos didn’t look pissed at him. He just looked pained at the news, throwing worrying glances in his direction. That was as bad as Doug’s pity. Carlos had known Jane was working late. What he  _ hadn’t _ known was that it was a Ben-related-PR-nightmare. He probably wouldn’t have believed it even if he did.

Evie turned to Ben expectantly, but it was Audrey who pulled the note from her purse. Ben hadn’t wanted it back after he crumpled it up in the bar. Didn’t need to relive the words. They were already seared into his brain. Audrey had rolled her eyes and pocketed it, knowing the damage it could do if it got out. 

Frowning, Evie threw a look at Ben before she took the paper. And then she went pale.

“And here I thought you’d read it out loud,” Jay groused after a long moment, half-standing from his seat as if he was about to join Cogsworth in the pacing. Lonnie put a hand on his shoulder and firmly pushed him back down again.

“Evie?” Belle asked in a whisper, her eyes betraying her fear. 

“I know where she is.” Evie whispered finally, refusing to look at the boys. She focused on the point between Jay and his parents’ mirrors, worrying her bottom lip as she worked through whatever was on her mind.

“Well let’s go then.” Ben’s answer was instant, a sudden burst of energy appearing from nowhere. He hadn’t followed her the first time. He wouldn’t make that mistake twice. 

He had a purpose now. This was something he could  _ do. _

But Evie didn’t move. If anything, her expression became more pained. More guilty. Her hand twitched as if she was going to reach for something, then thought better of it. 

“What did we miss in the note?” Audrey asked, somehow knowing either Ben or Jay was about to say something stupid if the silence drew out much longer.

“I just wish I knew what the note sa-” Jay tossed out unhelpfully, cut off by a not-so-subtle elbow to the ribs from Lonnie.

“Wait,” Ben waded into the fray, painfully aware that Evie still hadn’t said anything. “Mal said that I’d never find her once she went to ground. How do you know where she is?”

“Funny, I can’t offer an opinion on that, because I still don’t know what she said.” Jay chimed in again, only to be told off simultaneously but Lonnie and Carlos.  _ “What? _ We can’t do a damn thing if we don’t know.”

“It was pretty clear. ‘ _ By the time you get this, I’ll be back on the Isle. Don’t look for me. You won’t find us once I’m underground. I love you. But you never really planned on making a Lost Girl Queen, did you? _ ’” Ben snapped, knowing it was the only way forward. Jane flinched at his words, Cogsworth and Lumiere gasped. He was pretty sure he heard a growl from his father. 

Repeating the words somehow turned his hurt into anger, and without really thinking it through he turned on Evie, who still wouldn’t look at him, and seethed, “So I don’t understand how you got where she is from that. Because she made it clear that I’d never find her.”

“Now look what you did.” Lonnie muttered, shifting Lyla into Jay’s arms. Ben was too busy glaring at Evie, wondering what it would take to make her talk, to notice the way Jay instantly calmed.

“She didn’t say that.” Evie turned to him, her eyes apologetic. She looked like she was struggling with the words, like something was holding her back.  _ “You’d  _ never find her. But  _ I _ know what she means by going  _ underground.” _

This time it was Carlos who cut in, sounding more than a little frustrated. As if this was a topic he’d revisited more than once, “Is this girl code? Because you know I hate it when you do that.”

Evie closed her eyes and took a deep breath, finally admitting, “She’s gone to the mineshaft.”

There was a beat of silence before everyone started talking at once.

“Why the  _ fuck _ would she go to Hades?” Jay.

“He hates her mom, he wouldn’t help her.” Carlos.

_ “Language.” _ Lonnie.

“Those old mine shafts are  _ dangerous.” _ Cogsworth.

“What do you mean she’s going to Hades? Hades lives in the Underworld, not the Isle.” Jane.

“Not that I know anything about Hades, but this makes even less sense than going to Audrey. No offense.” Doug.

“None of this tells me why she’d go to Hades instead of us. See. No swearing. Happy?” Jay again.

“Evie,  _ where the fuck _ is my fiancé?” 

“Enough!”

It was his father who finally put an end to the chaos, his voice booming through the room. Everyone shut up immediately. After eyeing them all for a moment, Adam continued at a normal level, “Let Evie talk.”

Closing her eyes, Evie took a deep breath. She muttered something that sounded like  _ she’s going to kill me, _ before she turned to Audrey. Surprised by the sudden attention, Audrey’s eyes went wide as Evie spoke, “Audrey, if your life fell apart, what would you do?”

“I don’t understand? What’s this got to do with-” Audrey stuttered a little, looking between Ben and Doug for answers they didn’t have. Before she could finish, Evie cut her off sharply, pressing harder.

“Something bad happens. You decide to run, where do you go?” Evie’s tone was earnest, but her face was completely blank. She was refusing to give anything away, trying to push them towards the right answer themselves.

Unfortunately, no one had the first clue what that answer was meant to be.

“Well if I’m Mal-'' Audrey tried again, her brow furrowed in confusion. Ben almost felt sorry for her, but he needed the answers too.

“No. Not what you  _ think _ Mal would do.” Evie snapped impatiently. Then she stopped, took a deep breath, and clasped her hands together. Slowly, as if she was speaking to a toddler, Evie tried again, “We’re talking about  _ you. _ Princess Audrey of Auroria. Fifth in line to Auradon’s throne. Your boyfriend is third in line. You’re friends with the King’s son. You have a literal army of protection officers at your disposal. What would  _ you  _ do? What do you do when everything falls apart? Who do you run to if you’re scared?”

“I…” Audrey looked at Ben for help, but he could only shrug. He didn’t understand the questions either. Turning back to Evie, she admitted the answer he already knew, “I’d go home. I’d want my dad.”

Evie nodded, then looked pointedly at Ben, waiting for him to get it. 

He didn’t. 

So what if Audrey would go to her father. Mal’s dad wasn’t in the picture. 

He felt like there was still too much alcohol in his system to understand. But a quick glance at the mirrors told him everyone else was just as confused as he was. 

After a moment, she groaned, “Whatever happened, it made Mal run home. To her father.”

“And  _ when _ were we supposed to find this out?” Jay.

“You mean her dad is  _ literally _ the God of the Dead?” Carlos.

“If that’s true, she outranks us all.” Belle.

“Well that explains why Hades blocked the request into her parentage.” Lumiere.

“I thought VKs were only loyal to one parent.” 

It was Ben’s question that Evie answered, much to Jay and Carlos’ displeasure. Lonnie didn’t even try to calm Jay down this time.

“We’re meant to be.” She closed her eyes. Took another deep breath. Any other day, Ben would have felt bad about making her share a secret that wasn’t hers to tell. Not today. “We went looking for our fathers when we were about eight. It was the ultimate rebellion. We thought we were so  _ smart.” _

A wry smile. A sad kind of fondness for their childhood memories that only Isle kids could have. “My mother had killed mine the moment I was born. But we found Mal’s. She avoided him. Never acted on it.”

“It turns out that Hades put a blocker on her powers when she was born. To stop her doing something accidental and letting Maleficent know she was immune to the barrier. She’d turn her into a weapon. But then we came to Auradon and it wasn't needed anymore. She was  _ so _ pissed when he finally reached out to her. Thought she could do it herself, that she didn’t need to be trained.” Another wry smile. Mischief flashed through her eyes. “Until she baked a cookie that was just a  _ little _ too strong, that is.”

Doug snorted at the memory of Ben’s impromptu declaration of love, and Audrey drew him a dark look instinctively. 

“She asked for help but didn’t start taking it seriously until the chaos at your Investiture. That’s why she was so good at royal life. But they had to keep it a secret. To protect her. Maleficent didn’t know and people were already against her because of who she was.” Another apologetic look. Another pause. Second hand guilt flashed through her eyes. “They see each other, they talk. I don’t know what made her run, but I know whatever it was must have been bad.” 

Another pause. She met Ben’s eye for the first time all night.

“Mal doesn’t want to be found.”

The silence dragged on for a long moment, as if everyone was afraid to make the first move.

Resolute, Ben stepped closer to Evie, “I need to go after her. I need to make her come home.”

He still didn’t know what had happened. But he knew he needed to fix this.

She’d taken his heart with her to the Underworld. It was hers. She could keep it.

But he’d rather she kept it  _ here.  _

_ With him. _

“There’s an entrance to the underworld on the Isle.” Evie frowned, suddenly looking worried. Doug stepped towards her, but she shook her head minutely. “It’s either that, or I stab you and we hope Hades sends you back.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is Mal’s point of view.
> 
> You’re going to hate me even more😂


	4. Do You Know?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to split out this chapter because on review it was too long. You’ll just need to hate me an extra chapter😂

_ Eight hours before. _

“Well it’s really quite simple, my dear. You see...he just doesn’t want  _ you.” _

Mal kept her face impassive as she waited on Queen Leah to hurry the fuck out of her office. She was going to have to find Cogsworth and tear him a new one about unexpected guests and their ability to just waltz around the castle like they owned the place.

This was her office dammit. There were important documents in here that she knew Queen Leah would happily shred. Maybe she needed to start looking at a more magical security system. It’s not like anyone would  _ know _ unless they tried to trespass. 

She’d been on a high all afternoon, ever since she’d popped on a quick glamour and snuck off to the store after lunch with Belle. She’d pretended she had meetings when really she was in the bathroom peeing on a stick.

She hadn’t quite known what to expect. In the almost nine years they’d been together, there had never been so much as a scare. That was by design of course, the contraceptive spell was one her father was keen she learned as soon as possible.

When Ben had first brought up trying for a baby before the wedding, she had been shocked. Sure, Auradon was getting more liberal. Sure, she knew there was a rebellious Beast streak under that blazer. But an heir being born out of wedlock? Cogsworth would have a  _ fit. _

And then she realised he’d thought it through. That it wasn’t a spur of the moment thing. Less ‘let’s have a baby, I’m broody because Jay and Lonnie did it’ and more ‘we want kids, why can’t we be like everyone else and have them now’ moment. He’d been thinking about it for a while. He’d quietly changed legislation around the line of succession in all member kingdoms - adopted children counted, children brought in by marriage counted, the heir was the first child not the first male, the concept of illegitimate children was removed. So she’d agreed, and dropped the contraceptive spell. They’d always talked about a family - and now it was really happening.

If she’d known the test was going to come back positive, if it wasn’t just a gut feeling that something wasn’t quite normal, she’d have probably included Ben. But she wasn’t sure. It was only the first month. Surely it couldn’t happen  _ that  _ quickly.

Oh it could. 

So now she had to figure out how to tell him.

Once she got Queen Leah out of her office.

The woman was really killing her buzz.

It was nothing she hadn’t said a million times before. When they’d got engaged, Leah had gone to the Council demanding that she disclose who her father was.  _ ‘If you’re going to let a mongrel sit on the throne, we might as well know the damage.’ _

Ben had been furious. Adam banned Leah from Beast Castle, not that it made a difference. And her father had simply blocked the request with a laugh, pretending he was doing it out of spite.

She was going to have to tell Ben. It was one thing to keep her heritage quiet when it was just her. But now it was going to be their baby’s heritage too.

“Are you done?” Mal sighed, giving up on the pretence of civility. If this went on much longer she was going to have to call Mrs Potts. The woman was the queen of passive aggressive put downs. 

“Fine.” Leah sniffed dismissively. Something about her posture changed, and Mal noticed it immediately. She wasn’t asking like someone who had just been dismissed, she was acting like someone who had  _ won. _ “Don’t believe me.”

Leah stood, reaching into her purse as she did. She pulled out a tablet and dropped it onto Mal’s desk with a smirk. “Here’s your proof. It’s only a matter of time, my dear.”

Mal glanced at the device suspiciously, refusing to take it while Leah was in the room. When she looked up, Leah was in the doorway, her expression serene as she looked back over her shoulder, “What, you didn’t  _ really _ think he’d make a Lost Girl his Queen, did you?” 

...

_ I can’t live like this Ben. What am I supposed to do, just happily sit here on the sidelines taking what scraps I can get?  _

_ Because being lavished with affection and gifts and secret vacations to tropical islands constitutes scraps. _

_ You know as well as I do that means nothing if we can’t be seen together in public. We’re not some dirty little secret.  _

_ And what do you want me to do? Order the assassination of a ‘beloved national treasure’? _

_ Jokes about assassinations aside, I can’t sit here waiting until she’s dead. _

_ If you aren’t happy, do something about it. It’s never stopped you before. _

_ She has stopped me from getting what I want for  _ **_years._ ** _ You want to know what you can do? You can actually grow a pair, and put the rightful Queen on the throne. _

Silence. Then.

_ Give me a couple of days to think about it. I’ll see what I can do.  _

Mal could barely see through the tears she hadn’t realised had started. She couldn’t believe what she was watching. Ben, hidden away in the back of a restaurant with Audrey, was little more than a watery blur now. She didn’t need to see the way he was squeezing her hand in reassurance. Or the petulant pout on Audrey’s lips.

A few days ago. 

That video had been taken a few days ago. She could tell by his clothes.

_ After _ he’d convinced her to start trying for a baby.

_ After  _ they’d unknowingly succeeded.

Turning the screen to black, Mal angrily wiped the tears away. It had probably been going on for years and she was just too blind to see it.

He was joking about  _ assassinating  _ her.

Pulling open a drawer, she searched through for a blank envelope.

Ben wanted to play that game, fine. He could. He was  _ welcome _ to his little affair.

But Mal of the Isle was not a pawn.

And she wasn’t sticking around to be humiliated the way Audrey had been.

If anyone was leaving, it would be her.

…

Sitting one of their SUVs outside Beast Castle, Mal couldn’t stop the tears from coming.

She’d done it. It had all gone to plan. She’d ended things with Ben.

She just hadn’t expected it to  _ hurt _ this much. Like she’d left all her insides back in the bar with him.

The look on his face when she’d said she was done. She couldn’t get it out of her mind. He’d looked so shocked. So broken. Like she’d pulled the carpet out from under him and then set it on fire.

And then she’d gone to Audrey. She wanted to look the woman who stole her life in the eye and make  _ sure _ she knew she hadn’t won.

But Audrey was just as confused as Ben. She’d looked  _ worried _ about Mal.

Maybe they were just that good at acting. 

Maybe the real villains weren’t on the Isle.

Lifting her cell from the console, she bypassed the message from Lonnie in the group chat. She couldn’t look at cute baby pictures right now. Not when Lonnie had everything she wanted.

Instead, she navigated to one of the groups of icons on her home screen and clicked the nondescript weather app. To anyone who tried to go through her phone, it raised no red flags. But it was protected by biometrics, and once it was activated she was able to communicate freely within the Olympian networks. 

She only had four contacts, and they were all given emojis instead of names. Just in case.

There were her uncles, who she rarely spoke to but needed to be able to contact. A lightning bolt for Zeus; a wave for Poseidon. Hermes, the organiser of all things Olympus, was simply a man running with a cloud of dust behind him. Her handle was a dragon and a fairy.

And then there was her father. Hades. Skull emoji, fire emoji.

Her thumb hovered over his ‘name’ for a long moment before she clicked to call. As always, he answered by the third ring. Before he could say anything, Mal choked out, “Hey, Dad. I think I need to come home for a bit.”

A sob she couldn’t quite contain.

Silence.

A growl.

_ “What did he do?” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Romance Trope Checklist:   
> [x] Avoidable Break Up  
> [x] Angsty Hero   
> [x] Dramatic Misunderstanding   
> [x] Secret Baby  
> [x] Stubborn Ass Heroine Clinging To Her Original View
> 
> Happy Ending [to be continued]


	5. Die From A Broken Heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need to stop adding words when I’m doing the final review...I’ll just split this chapter again😂

Mal stood on the balcony of her bedroom in her father’s Underworld Palace. The imposing white marble mansion sat right in the heart of the Underworld, at the juncture of all five rivers. The first time Hades had brought her here, Mal had said something about expecting black. Before long, she realised that wasn’t the only misconception she’d been holding onto about her father’s life.

Just because he was the God of Death, that didn’t mean he was evil. Not like her mother. He was part of an ecosystem. He brought balance. Zeus was life, and light, and order. Hades was the opposite side of the coin. Death, and darkness, and chaos. The world needed them both to survive.

The Underworld wasn’t Hell. It  _ contained _ Hell.

It was a kingdom in it’s own right.

And one day, she would be helping run it.

Maybe that day was coming sooner than she’d intended.

Looking around the sprawling landscape, Mal wished that she felt the usual relief from coming home. The grounding she usually felt from being here was noticeably absent.

Everything  _ hurt. _ It still felt like she’d left part of herself back on the surface.

Sighing, she unwound her arms from around her middle tentatively. Ever since landing in the library, she found herself unconsciously curling in on herself. In an attempt to distract herself, she reached down to grip the railing, tight enough that her knuckles went white.

She could survey her kingdom. It should be easy enough.

She’d picked this room as a teenager, first because of the view, and then she fell in love with the details. This side of the palace overlooked the River Phlegethon. There was something beautiful about the River of Fire - and then after a few moments, you noticed the charred riverbanks, where only the strongest plants survived the proximity. You noticed the reds and browns and oranges intertwined with the black.

There was something alluring about the death and destruction. Something comforting.

It was just in her nature.

The gods were drawn to that which was like them. Her father had been drawn to her mother because Maleficent was the epitome of chaos. That’s why he was drawn to the Isle. The darkness and death and chaos...it was the next best thing to being in the Underworld, to being surrounded by souls.

Before the age of seventeen, Mal had never known what the call of the Styx felt like. Her father’s block on her powers muted everything - all she’d ever known was a vague feeling that she needed to be somewhere  _ else,  _ needed something  _ more.  _ The first time she’d set foot in the Underworld, however reluctantly that step had been, she finally felt like she was  _ home. _

She’d found that feeling with Ben too, after their first kiss under a tree by the Enchanted Lake.

And now, she just felt adrift.

Even Cerberus, shrunk down to Doberman size and curled at the bottom of her bed couldn’t make her feel better.

Gripping the metal railing tighter, she fought the urge to cry.

She wouldn’t do it. Wouldn’t give him that power. Crying was for the weak.

She was not weak. She was a demigod. The daughter of Maleficent. The daughter of Hades. It was time she started acting like it.

She should have ripped his heart straight out of his chest.

She should have cursed them all.

She should have made Auradon  _ burn. _

She wouldn’t make that mistake again.

“Okay, Mallie, run that by me again.”

Mal rolled her eyes and clenched her jaw as she spun back to face her father.

It was a sight that would make Auradon’s collective head explode. They knew Hades as the God of the Dead. Council Robes for official events. Leather for the informal ones. Hair on fire when he felt like it. Glaring and snarky and making you stew in the silence.

He was Olympus’ representative in Auradon, the only surface kingdom to have the honour of a tier one Olympian on their Council. The rest had demigods or mythical creatures or the odd appearance by Hermes. No one knew Hades only volunteered for the job because his daughter was stuck on the Isle.

No one knew it was all part of his plan to loophole the hell out of her mother.

Hades was the most powerful man in Auradon. Second in command on Olympus.

He was terrifying. 

He made some of her more delicate maids cry.

...He was sitting on her very purple duvet, kitted out in his non-work uniform of leather pants, black T-shirt and leather vest, next to an oversized stuffed dragon she couldn’t bear to leave in Auradon.

He was her dad.

And right now, he didn’t know whether he should be starting a murder spree or trying to clear up his confusion.

Mal couldn’t blame him.

But there wasn’t enough murder for her liking.

“Why do you sound so shocked?” Mal sighed deeply, walking back into her room. She was too keyed up, too hurt to sit next to him on the bed. Instead, she crouched next to Cerberus and scratched one of his heads behind the ear. Just to give herself something to do with her hands. She kept catching fire when she wasn’t busy. 

She briefly wondered what would happen when one of the groundsmen tried to move her SUV and discovered that the driver’s seat was burnt to a crisp.

When her father didn’t reply, she pushed just a little harder, refusing to meet his eye. “Surely the Fates told you this was how it would end?” 

She tried not to sound bitter, even if she knew it was true. Those three old hags were bigger gossips than the entire Auradonian Court combined.

“They did not, no.” Hades replied evenly, reaching to pat Cerberus’ head closest to him. The third head was still asleep. 

Mal studied her father carefully for a moment. This wasn’t what she’d expected. 

Her father had threatened to castrate Ben _ the old fashioned way _ when Mal had decided she wanted to keep him. He was quick to anger and slow to forgive, especially when it came to her. She’d expected anger and fire and brimstone.

And she’d got it.

When she’d called him crying, he’d been murderous. When she turned up in the library, sobbing so hard she couldn’t even speak, his fury had been palpable. But once she could talk, he’d been confused. And then he paused.

It was like his first instinct was to destroy whoever had hurt her. But his second instinct was telling him there was more going on.

It didn’t matter that  _ her _ second instinct wanted him to be right. 

But she couldn’t deny what she’d seen. What Ben had said.

A quick verification spell had confirmed the authenticity. 

That was definitely Ben. And definitely Audrey. And definitely unedited. 

She was so stupid.

But, the logical part of her brain argued, if Hades himself was sitting here,  _ not _ planning Ben’s murder, something wasn’t quite right.

Her heart wanted to agree. 

It’s not like  _ anything  _ was right about this situation.

She didn’t  _ want  _ to be right.

Mal was pulled from her thoughts when she felt her father’s hand on her shoulder. Surprised, her arm caught fire, but Hades didn't flinch. With a breath out she extinguished the flames and tried to hold back the tears.

All that training. All that learning to control her powers. Years of work. Gone in one afternoon.

Was she really going to lose  _ everything _ tonight?

“You know I love you and you are welcome here whenever you feel like it. And if  _ anyone  _ is stupid enough to hurt you, I will happily skin them alive.” His words were soft, tempered, as if he wasn’t casually discussing murder. The tears pooled behind her eyes and she had to blink rapidly to keep them at bay. It was really hard to keep hold of the anger when he reminded her it was okay to fall. “But are you sure you aren’t just giving Leah exactly what she wants?”

Mal was on her feet in an instant, finding the anger somewhere, turning away from his logic and wrapping her arms around herself in an attempt to keep the flames at bay. It wasn’t working. The odd flame burst from her skin before she pushed it back down again. Biting back a growl, she bit out, “What Leah wants is to publicly humiliate me when Ben leaves me for Audrey. I left before he could do that. I win.”

“You don’t look like someone who won.” Hades countered, standing and folding his arms as he lent his hip against the end of the bed frame. 

His gaze was even. Open. Non-judgmental and fatherly and it infuriated the fuck out her.

“Because I didn’t!” Mal spun back to face him, eyes blazing green and her hair on fire. Anger was easy. As long as she could channel the pain into anger, people would leave her alone. People would fear her, not pity her. “I was stupid and blind and weak and-“

She couldn’t believe she’d fallen for it.

_ Stupid, stupid, stupid. _

_ Love is for the weak.  _

“That’s your mother talking.” Mal missed the moment Hades closed the distance between them to pull her into his arms. But once her cheek was pressed against the familiar black fabric, she found herself clinging to him. The glow stopped and the tears started, but the flames stayed. Deep purple flames curled through to the ends of her hair, turning momentarily blue when Hades disturbed them as he stroked her hair. 

She didn’t even know why she was crying now. It wasn’t one specific thing. 

It was everything and nothing. 

It was because she felt safe. And because she felt lost.

It was like she’d left a part of herself with Ben, and without it, she was out of control. 

Why did he have so much power over her? 

When did that happen?

“Baby girl, I will  _ end _ anyone who dares hurt you. You know that.” Somehow, Hades managed to pull off soothing just as well as Belle did. Even though his version was full of threats of bodily harm. Mal sniffed into his shirt, still refusing to look up. With a sigh, he held her tighter as he continued, “But as much as it  _ pains  _ me to say this, I don’t think that boy has it in him to have an affair. He would throw himself at your feet begging for mercy the  _ moment  _ he got home.”

“I used to think that too.” She whispered from inside his shirt, her voice thick. A pause. Her voice cracked, “She had it on  _ video.” _

The flames erupted around her shoulders this time. 

Hades only pulled her tighter, and Mal missed the way he glared at the wall, his own hair flashing red for a moment. When he spoke he was still calm, still soothing. Still dropping threats of violence as if they were discussing the weather, “Want me to go to the surface and beat the answers out of him?”

“No.” Mal took a deep breath, reigned the flames in and stepped out of her father’s embrace. She still had her arms wrapped around herself. Still had to physically hold herself together. In contrast, her tone was scathing as she headed back towards the balcony, “Let him have his life with his prissy pink princess. Let him wonder where I went. Let him wonder why I left him before he could leave me.”

It was petty. She knew this. But it was the only victory she could claim.

She couldn’t think about Evie. Couldn't think about the boys. Because then her resolve would crack. And she’d think about going back.

And if she went back, she’d have to -

“So you’re not telling him about-” For the first time since she’d got home, her father sounded disapproving. 

He’d made it clear she could stay as long as she wanted. But she got the impression he didn’t think it would be long term. 

It would. 

She was doing this alone.

“Why should I? He’d stay out of obligation.” Mal shrugged again, trying to ignore the way that kind of life flashed behind her eyes. The lies. The fronts. Knowing, yet saying nothing. She couldn’t live like that. “I won’t stick around just for him to have a mistress.”

Hades was silent for a moment, studying her carefully. After a moment, he decided it wasn't worth arguing her on it. Not now. Instead, he changed tack, “And what should I say when I deck him on sight at the next Council meeting?”

Mal smirked, imagining Ben sprawled out on the floor of the Council Chamber. The look on his face as he tried to work out what he’d done to anger the god. The way the rumour mill would run wild with the stories. 

Before she could respond, Hades’ cell began ringing. He fished it out of his pocket, eyes flashing as he registered whoever was calling. Holding up a finger to Mal, he warned, “We’re not done talking about this.”

Mal turned away from him, tuning out the words. It sounded like a meeting. 

Even if her life was falling apart, the Underworld kept moving. 

She heard him finish up his call and head towards her. She didn’t look up as he approached, but leaned into his embrace as he wrapped an arm around her in a sideways hug. He pressed a kiss to her hair, affection she accepted easily now. “This isn’t on you, Mallie.” He was back to being reassuring, and right on cue the tears threatened to begin again. “However you want to deal with this, I’m behind you. Whether we’re burning down his castle or punishing him for his terrible life choices.”

He gave her a final squeeze and headed for the door. Just as he was about to leave, Mal turned and called after him, “Was it like this? When you left mom?”

She hated the way she sounded small. Childish. Unsure of what kind of reassurance she was looking for.

Hades turned, one hand still on the doorframe. A dark look passed over his features, then he smiled sadly, “It was like this when I left  _ you.” _

Mal didn’t know what to say to that, so she simply nodded, and then he was gone. Taking another deep breath, trying to smother the last of the stray flames, she walked back out to the balcony, gazing across the river.

This was her birthright. Her home. 

She should feel  _ something  _ gazing over the fields. Something other than heartbreak.

Maybe her father was right. Maybe she had been too rash in running off. 

But she couldn’t face the confrontation. The thought of sitting in that booth, pretending she didn’t know that he’d been sneaking around with Audrey. Or worse, confronting him and listening as he told her he didn’t love her anymore. That maybe he never had.

She couldn’t do it.

She let her hand drift over her still flat stomach, thinking of the pregnancy test she’d left in the bathroom for him to find that afternoon. He should have found it when they got home from their date. Now he’d find it when she was gone.

She told her father she wasn’t going to tell him. And she wasn’t. But she sure as hell made sure he’d know what he lost. 

Let him worry about her reappearing in sixteen years to claim the throne for  _ her _ child. 

Let him have some kind of regret.

Maybe he’d hurt half as badly as she did.


	6. My Happy Ending

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I reiterate...this concept was most likely born from very strong painkillers😂
> 
> Mal’s song: My Happy Ending by Avril Lavigne. I had to. It’s a break up anthem.

_“Was it like this? When you left mom?”_

_Hades turned, one hand still on the doorframe. A dark look passed over his features, then he smiled sadly, “It was like this when I left_ **_you._ ** _”_

_Mal didn’t know what to say to that, so she simply nodded, and then he was gone. Taking another deep breath, trying to smother the last of the stray flames, she walked back out to the balcony, gazing across the river._

After a long moment with her thoughts, Mal sighed heavily.

She might have acted like she knew what she was doing next with her father, but the reality was she had no idea where she went from here.

The last time she felt this conflicted, this adrift, she had been choosing between good and evil. Between following her heart, and following her mother. Back then, she was discovering the truth about her heritage, about her powers, and fighting it. She was trying to wear all the hats. Trying to walk the tightrope between her choices, never really committing to anything. Trying not to get hurt.

This was different. This time there wasn’t much hope. She was already hurt.

She’d thought she’d had it so hard at seventeen. All those teenage problems - and the real, adult problems too - had seemed so big. So insurmountable. Breaking her mother’s mold had seemed so _hard._

It had nothing on this.

Mal thought back to the girl who had broken into song by the Enchanted Lake, trying to piece her feelings together.

She’d been so hopeful. So scared.

She could see a way out, even if she was too scared to commit to that path.

She didn’t have that luxury now.

 _“A million thoughts in my head, should I let my heart keep listening…”_ She sang softy, remembering the words easily. She trailed off then laughed hollowly. Back then, it had been easier, somehow, to let her feelings out that way. To let go. To just feel…

The song inside her heart wasn’t as pretty this time around. Not when she was furious with Ben, and hurt, and betrayed, and mad at herself.

Mal narrowed her eyes as she looked out over the gardens, towards tbe fields. Looking further than the Phlegethon. She could see Elysium from here, the city of the good and righteous and those close enough to the gods to blag a spot. It was where Ben should end up eventually.

Unless her father threw him into Tartarus first. 

Right now, both options sounded as bad as each other. Knowing he was suffering for eternity versus knowing he was just outside of arms reach.

He’d be just across the Meadows and the Mourning Fields. So close, yet so far. Sixty odd years was the blink of an eye in the Underworld. He'd be here before she knew it.

She turned away from the balcony, suddenly unable to face the view, and headed back inside. Grabbing her stuffed dragon off the bed, she hugged it to her chest in an attempt at grounding. George was the first gift Ben had given her, won at a carnival a few weeks before his Investiture. Back when he was pretending he was still spelled, and she was pretending she still wanted to be evil. She didn’t know why she couldn’t leave him in Auradon. So she didn’t.

She was allowed one memory. It wasn’t George’s fault Ben was an ass.

Avoiding the bed - knowing right now all she’d notice was how big it was without Ben’s six foot plus frame taking up all the room - she dropped into the seat next to her dresser.

Mal didn’t know why she needed a dressing table when she wasn’t dressing up for any balls or Olympian events. But still, she had it. She’d probably need it more now.

Resting her chin on George’s head, she studied herself carefully in the mirror. Curiously, as if she was looking in on someone else’s heartbreak.

The girl in the reflection looked like her, kind of. She was paler than normal. The odd flame still appeared when she lost focus. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying. Her hair was a riot from the amount of times she’d run her hands through it.

She was a mess.

She needed to start holding onto the anger. Start acting like a demigod.

She was here. And now she needed to be her father’s daughter.

Her eyes came to rest on one of the tiara’s on display off to her right. She knew the staff - demons - changed them out regularly. Not that she ever had a reason to wear one.

This month's tiara was bold. It looked like it would sit a few inches high, the silver flowers and leaves taking up the space unapologetically. It was literally dripping in diamonds. Wearing it, she’d look regal and formidable and every inch the vengeful god.

She let herself imagine welcoming Ben to the Underworld for a moment.

The look on his face would be priceless.

_Hey, Bennyboo, fancy meeting you here. Oh the crown? Family heirloom._

_Whose family? Why mine of course! By the way, we have a kid I never mentioned._

_Oh, what’s that, you wished you’d seen them grow up? Pity. Should have made better life choices I guess..._

Mal smiled ruefully then deflated a little.

_‘Rightful Queen’, my ass._

It didn’t matter how she thought she’d get one over on him or showed him up. How she’d show him what he’d lost.

 _She’d_ still lost out on the only Happily Ever After she ever wanted. Theirs.

She didn’t even have answers.

It wasn’t right. It wasn’t _fair._

 _“Let's talk this over, it’s not like we're dead.”_ Mal didn’t think about the cliche as she finally let the words come. Didn’t think about the fact this was her second heartbreak song.

This one would be different. She wasn’t seventeen crying in the kitchens as she broke a love spell. She was twenty-five and _pissed._

She didn’t blink as she stared evenly into the mirror, conjuring an image of Ben behind her.

God, he looked so perfect in her memories. Fitted suit. Hair slightly ruffled. Hands stuffed lazily in his pockets as he met her gaze. She hated him. She loved him.

Still studying him carefully in the reflection, trying to work out what she’d missed, she continued on softly, “ _Was it something I did? Was it something you said?”_

Ben didn’t respond. He couldn't. He was just a figment of her imagination.

That didn’t stop it pissing her off.

“ _Don't leave me hanging, in a city so dead.”_ Setting George on the table roughly, hard enough to make the glass displays rattle, she stood and turned on his image. She kept her tone light, conversational even, but she couldn’t tone down the accusation, “ _Held up so high on such a breakable thread.”_

The world around her, her relief, it was all so fragile. She was Rapunzel in this story. The prodigal daughter returned. The bird in the gilded cage. As if at any moment it could all come tumbling down.

 _“You were all the things I thought I knew.”_ Mal trailed off as she reached out to touch him, stopping just shy of his blazer.

 _“And I thought we could be…”_ Mal trailed off, her heart breaking just a little as she realised she couldn’t get the words out.

Mal closed her eyes for a moment, clasping her hand into a fist between them. When she opened then again, all she could see was the blank look on Ben’s features.

Out of nowhere, her anger flared to life. As her eyes flashed green and her hair sparked alight, she had a sudden need to get _out_ of her room.

Away from the spectre. Away from the memories.

Away from _him._

_She needed to break something._

In one swift move, Mal turned on her heel, swiped a hand through the image she’d created, and everything disappeared in a burst of purple smoke.

She reappeared in one of the palace gardens next to the river in a burst of flame. The few demons that had been in the area looked towards her curiously.

If she’d been thinking clearly, she wouldn’t have blamed them. She was still wearing her Auradonian clothes - a pastel coloured skater dress and sandals. Perfect for date night with Ben. Not the leather she normally sported in the Underworld.

She wasn’t thinking clearly. She _wanted_ to make a scene.

 _“You were everything, everything that I wanted.”_ Impulsively, Mal kicked the demon closest to her, punting him directly into the river.

She didn’t even wait to see the splash, she turned back towards the palace and glowered at the remaining demons, _“We were meant to be, supposed to be, but we lost it.”_

She didn’t feel an ounce of remorse as they panicked and attempted to make themselves scarce. They all know her father’s temper intimately. No one wanted to stick around to see if her’s was the same.

Pity. 

She needed to break something.

Grabbing one of the stone busts that was dotted around the gardens, Mal launched it from it’s pedestal and onto the ground. _“And all of the memories, so close to me, just fade away.”_

The sound of her Uncle Poseidon crashing into the ground was oddly therapeutic. It blocked out the memories running through her mind, trying to grab her attention.

She didn’t _want_ to think about the way they were late for breakfast this morning.

Stomping her foot, she conjured the image of Ben again. He still had that blank look, and that made it so much easier to launch another bust at him as she spat, _“All this time you were pretending. So much for my happy ending.”_

The anger she couldn’t muster in Auradon was out in full force now. It made it easy to control the flames. To summon items from across the garden and throw them.

It was easier to stalk towards a figment and spit out every sarcastic thought that stemmed from your broken heart than it was to face the real thing, “ _It's nice to know that you were there.”_

She would not think about all those stolen moments around the castle. At events. Or the way they’d snuck off to have sex in a broom cupboard when the last fundraiser got a bit too boring. Or the way he would sneak up behind her in between meetings and envelope her in a hug from behind, then kiss her neck before he scampered off to his next appointment.

She would _not_ think about the way he’d made her feel safe. And secure. And loved.

Instead she sharpened her glare, reminding herself that he was just an excellent actor, _“Thanks for acting like you cared.”_

She would not think of the platters of strawberries that always appeared at her engagements. Or the way he’d save her from the boring diplomats during events. The way he always gave her his jacket when it got cold, even though he knew she couldn’t feel it.

 _“And making me feel like I was the only one.”_ She was toe to toe with him now, her fist somewhere over her heart as she tried to make the image understand how much he’d hurt her.

Any other time she’d realise how crazy that looked.

 _“It's nice to know we had it all.”_ She threw a vase of flowers - where did she summon them from - at their feet. Ben didn’t flinch. Her ire grew.

If this was all true, it meant that at some point he had decided she needed to lose everything. He had watched her fall harder for him. Had watched her plan their life together. And did absolutely nothing about.

“ _Thanks for watching as I fall.”_ She kicked another demon stupid enough to peek out from its hiding spot.

“ _And letting me know we were done.”_ Mal threw her hands in the air and stomped her foot before she turned away from Ben in disgust. At herself or him, she didn’t know.

He hadn’t even respect her enough to end things. He just dragged it on.

Why did that hurt more than the cheating?

Why wasn’t she important enough to tell?

The thought took the wind right out of her anger, and she deflated instantly. Fighting back the tears, going with the extreme swings of emotion she still wasn’t used to, Mal gazed over the river. She could see the city coming to life from here, but it just made her feel more alone.

_“He was everything, everything that I wanted.”_

Even she could hear the defeat in her tone. The despair. The _hurt_.

And she _hated it._

She was the daughter of Maleficent. She was better than this.

Her eyes glowed green, finding enough anger from somewhere to propel her back towards Ben. She lifted her hands, letting them catch fire.

“ _We were meant to be, supposed to be, but we lost it.”_ Breaking things hadn’t helped. Now it was time to break him. _“And all of the memories, so close to me just fade away.”_

 _“All this time you were pretending.”_ When Mal swiped through the image she’d created - killing it with fire - she expected it to turn to dust. Which it did.

She did _not_ expect Ben to still be standing there when the smoke cleared. 

_“So much for my happy endi-”_ The words caught in her throat as she processed what she was seeing. The anger disappeared. Her heart couldn’t decide if it was beating or breaking all over again.

“Ben?”

He looked nothing like the image her mind had created. She’d pulled together the ‘Crown Prince of Auradon’. The Ben that went to work every day and came home every night and looked ridiculously good in a blazer.

This Ben was wearing Isle casuals - he had no right to look that good in them - and a _beanie._ Seeing him look like he belonged with her, it made her stomach do funny things.

Then she gasped when she met his eyes. Unlike her figment, Ben looked _broken._

Mal didn’t want to admit it was the same look she’d seen in her mirror not too long before.

Instead she stepped back, raising her hands defensively. They were still on fire, but she didn’t move to put them out, “What are you doing here?”


	7. Broken Up (About It)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I’ve had the year from hell so far. The kids have been (non covid) ill, my dog has been ill, and I had to put her down last week, and work has been crazy. My brain is mush. So I’ve split out what should have been the penultimate chapter into two and posted what’s ready. It’s a bit of a filler, but it’s staring at me from my Google Docs judging me.

_ Five minutes before. _

Evie ran her fingers along the wall for the lever that would open the heavy wooden door hidden in the wall of the mineshaft. Ben stood back, letting her work, trying to work out where in the smooth wall you could hide a door  _ and _ a pressure plate.

She was back in her Isle casuals - tailored a little to fit now that she was no longer an underweight teenager. Said it helped them blend in. Ben didn’t know how true that was when their faces were everywhere, but he saw the way she stepped back into her old persona the same way she stepped back into the leather. It was like a comfort blanket. A barrier between her and the Isle.

The Isle couldn’t hurt Evie4Hearts, because she was hidden under layers of misdirection and walls around her heart. This was Evie Queen, the vapid, self-centred daughter of EQ. 

When Evie stepped back into her kitchen after pulling their old clothes from the attic with a breathy _ ‘Aren’t I just the fairest of them all?’ _ Doug had looked ill. He made sure Ben knew his only job - other than getting Mal back - was making sure the real Evie made it off the Isle in one piece.

Ben was then pinned into something he assumed had been destined for Jay, but hadn’t been dyed from blue to red, and they were off.

The journey to the Isle had been pretty silent - Evie drove, obviously. Once they reached the barrier, Evie said it was safer if they walked to the mineshaft. The Isle was worse than Ben had ever imagined. And Evie said this was an improvement.

Even now, when they were finally in the mineshaft after almost an hour after crossing the Isle, sticking to the shadows, Ben couldn’t think of how things could have been  _ worse. _

The alcohol had worn off now - Evie’s Miracle Cure had seen to that - and everything was just too much. His feelings. The Isle. The lack of control. The darkness. The barking and screaming coming from within the walls...

He didn’t know how Evie could focus long enough to find the switch, even if she knew it from memory. She took a few more steps before she felt something, paused, then looked over her shoulder.

The moment caught him off guard. He’d been here before.

Not, here-here, in a mineshaft desperately trying to piece his life back together. But he’d been on the other end of that look. Evie, resigned and detaching from a situation, lips pressed into a thin line. Evie, looking over her shoulder, wearing heavy makeup and deep blue leather, her hair tactically braided so that it was pretty but stayed out her face in a fight.

It transported him back to another time, back to when they were young and stupid and thought they were invincible. Back to the day he found out about Maleficent’s plan to steal the wand.

It had been a Tuesday. And like today, he’d thought it was just a normal Tuesday.

He’d gotten curious. Mal’s excuse for why she couldn’t meet him for dinner was flimsy at best, outrageous at worst, and he’d wondered what she was up to. Evie had caught him following them, and looked over her shoulder as they’d ducked into the kitchen at midnight. Something about that look had never left him, even long after he’d burst into the room demanding answers.

Ben had thought they were feeling guilty about the love spell, that they could be brewing a reversal. That  _ wasn’t  _ what was waiting on the other side of the door.

He’d walked in mid-plot. They’d panicked, but Mal thought he was still spelled. That he was following her because he was obsessed with her. That because he was spelled, she didn’t need to hide it. That he’d just do what she wanted him to do, just because she fluttered her eyelashes and smiled at him.

It had been one hell of an argument. Especially once he’d sent the others away.

He’d been pissed she was trying to steal his kingdom, and a little hurt she hadn’t been trying to steal him.

She’d been pissed he knew he’d been spelled and said nothing, and a lot hurt that he thought the plan was her idea.

The Beast versus the Dragon, the fallout was massive.

He just hoped they could fall back together this time too.

…

“This is…not what I expected the gateway to the underworld to look like.” Ben trailed off as they stepped into Hades’ lair. It was nothing like what he’d expected.

Part of him had expected all black leather everywhere. Another part expected thrones made of bone and skulls. Instead...

“It looks like an abandoned man cave.”

Everything was a little beaten up, but unlike most of what he’d seen of the Isle so far, the damage was purely cosmetic. The sofa was battered and bruised but had all its cushions. The music player seemed a little rusty. The television set was old but didn’t look like a fire risk. The bookshelves were immaculate. There was a dinner table, and it had all four legs.

“It basically is.” Evie shrugged, barely sparing a glance at the room. She headed straight towards a door on the other side of the room, tucked under the stairs. He supposed that a cupboard was as good a place to hide a portal as any. “He only lived here until we went to Auradon.”

That made sense. Hades had everyone in Auradon believing that he lived in the Underworld. The gods only graced Auradon with their presence for Council meetings and the odd party. No one would look for him on the Isle. And none of the kids coming off had mentioned him.

“No one noticed he disappeared?” Ben asked, carefully studying the room as he followed Evie. Part of him wanted to explore, to see if he could find any clues to Mal’s early life here. But he didn’t think the God of Death would take too kindly to snooping.

“Not really. He didn’t come out much.” Evie stopped in front of the door, and Ben expected her to pull it open. Instead she pulled out her cellphone, typing as she spoke, “He kept on his errand rat. She drops off supplies, the demons make sure they end up somewhere they’re needed.”

She threw Ben a ‘here goes nothing’ look and he heard the dial tone. That shouldn’t have been possible under the barrier, but Ben was beyond questioning things by now. Maybe tomorrow, when his life was hopefully less chaotic.

Hades answered on the second ring, and Evie skipped the pleasantries. “It’s me. I know Mal’s with you.”

_ “Well I don’t know, Hermy, you manage my schedule for a reason.” _

Ben frowned at the response. But Evie simply rolled her eyes and pressed on, “I take it she’s there and not up for visitors.”

_ “What do you think?” _

“I’m at the mineshaft entrance.” Evie replied easily, glancing at Ben before adding, “I have company.”

Hades was silent for a moment, and Ben suddenly realised he might have more than just Mal to convince. He’d do it. No question. He’d never met her father...as her father. But he wasn’t leaving until Hades understood that he wanted to fix things. Besides, Hades had that look that made you feel like he was looking into your very soul. Who needed a lie detector.

_ “Good. I’ll be right there.” _

The line clicked off, and Evie let out a breath Ben didn’t realise she’d been holding. Before he could say anything, the door swung open to reveal Hades himself. He seemed taller than Ben remembered - and it had only been a few weeks since the last Council meeting. Crossing his arms over his leather vest, he blocked the doorway as he leveled Ben with an even stare. 

“I want to be clear about one thing,” Haded began, his voice low and vaguely threatening. Ben barely noticed the way Evie glanced between the two men warily, but he did notice how she had shifted so she was facing him with her back to Hades. “I’m only letting you in because I know you’re being played. But if you  _ ever _ hurt her the way she thinks you did, I’ll toss you in the river.”

“I’ll let you.” Ben found himself saying, relieved that someone seemed to be on his side. And if the worst Hades was threatening him with was stealing his soul...well at least it wasn’t torture or eternal damnation. “Just let me see her. I need to fix this.”

Hades studied him for a long moment, and Ben got the distinct feeling that he was being Judged. Capitalisation required. It only lasted a moment, but it felt like Hades was in his head, looking for something. Whatever it was, he found. Because he dropped the almost-glare and stepped to the side, opening his arms for Evie to step into a hug.

To Ben, he warned, “Remember to duck. She’s in the southern gardens throwing things.”


	8. Out of the Woods

* * *

“Ben?” Mal asked, the shock evident in her voice. She stepped backwards, raising her hands defensively. They were still on fire, but she didn’t move to put them out, “What are you doing here?”

Ben had arrived in the gardens after following one of Hades’ demons through about a dozen different corridors and hidden doorways. He didn’t know if it was a shortcut or an intimidation tactic...and if it was the second it _was_ beginning to make him nervous.

Panic and Pain, the Hades’ usual shadows in Auradon, were still nowhere to be seen. Ben hadn’t been sure if they were watching over Mal or avoiding the situation entirely. Then he'd heard her singing, losing herself to the feelings, much like he’d done earlier in the bar. And he _knew_ they were hiding.

Where he’d been desolate, Mal was furious. He’d never seen her so free with her magic - summoning things from thin air, from across the grounds, and launching them with a strength that didn't fit her small frame. He didn’t expect to see the back of his head either - he didn’t know what to make of Mal conjuring a version of him to fight with after _she’d_ left _him._

The scene before him should have been terrifying. The raw emotions, the anger, the hurt, the magic sizzling in the air. But instead, he felt like he could breathe again. Like the pieces of him that had been missing for the last six hours had reappeared, even if they weren't quite realigned.

“M,” Ben breathed, reaching out to her, his heart dropping when she flinched at the move. He pulled his hand back, clenching it into a fist as he dropped it to his side. Determined, he pushed on, “I don’t know what you think happened - Mal, it _didn’t.”_

Mal scoffed at his words, the shock disappearing as she turned away in disgust. He couldn’t blame her for her reaction, not when he knew they were being played. Judging by the treatment not-Ben had gotten, he was lucky she hadn’t set him on fire the moment she saw him.

Instinctively, he took the few steps to follow her, reaching out to grab her, “M, _I love you.”_

“Fuck you, Ben.” Mal spat, spinning back to face him, her eyes glowing but her expression guarded. She pulled her arm out of his grasp as her hair caught fire again. So did her shoulder. That should probably scare him more than it did. “Go to hell.”

This was a world away from the Mal who had calmly stood in the bar ending things. _That_ Mal scared him. She had been vacant and detached and emotionless.

 _This_ was the Mal he knew. All fire and passion. Anger he could work with. Anger was better than apathy. Anger told him she still cared.

Letting out a hollow laugh, Ben gestured to the garden around him, to the broken pots and smashed statues littering the ground, “I am literally standing in the middle of the Underworld. If you want me in a specific region you’re going to have to give me directions.”

Mal huffed, turning away and heading towards the riverbank. He had barely noticed it when he’d stepped outside, but now he had...was that a river of _fire?_

He followed her anyway.

“You’re not funny.” Mal growled, refusing to look back at him. And that pissed him off.

_Fuck it, I’m about to be tossed into lava._

“And you are?” Ben challenged, his voice rising, his tone accusing. If Mal wanted a fight, she’d get one.

They should have done this hours ago. They could have _fixed this_ hours ago. The only reason they were fighting in her father’s southern garden was because Mal gave up on them.

It didn’t matter that she had the wrong information, not now. The choices that led to this exact moment were all on her. “Disappearing off the face of the earth without a word?”

One moment Mal was in front of him, storming towards the river. The next she was gone. Ben started, looking around frantically, searching for her, but before he could speak she was behind his shoulder.

“You didn’t want me, so I left.” 

He jumped at her hissed words, surprised by the venom. Spinning to face her, the first thing he noticed was how cold her eyes were. It was worse than the rage. Mal shrugged indifferently, “Seems pretty straightforward to me.”

He knew she believed what she was saying. That didn’t mean he’d let her get away with it. Folding his arms, he rolled his eyes and snapped, “And where the fuck did you get an idea as stupid as that?”

This wasn’t what he’d planned. He’d planned on more grovelling. Maybe a little begging. He’d have gotten on his knees if he thought it would have helped. But if she was _really_ stupid enough to think he didn’t want her...well, he was just going to have to tell her that.

“Oh, don’t play dumb.” Ben could almost feel the sharp edge to Mal’s taunt. She was in his face now, sarcasm dripping from every word, “You want to marry Audrey, that’s _fine._ Have _fun._ I’ll send a gift certificate before the wedding. You win. Just _stop_ with the games.”

“You think I’m cheating on you with _Audrey?”_ Ben knew his face must have been a picture. He tried to pull together an objection, but his brain had screeched to a halt. Audrey. Mal thought he was cheating on her with _Audrey._

Suddenly, he understood why she’d left her ring where she did. It was petty and vindictive and so completely Mal. Why have it out with him when she could disappear and make sure they knew she knew. When she could leave them to sweat over the fallout.

But... _Audrey?_

She really believed he was with _Audrey?_

“What’s with the ‘think’?” Mal searched his reaction carefully before scoffing and storming off in the direction of the house. Whatever she’d seen there - or didn’t see - she didn't like it. She tossed her parting words carelessly over her shoulder, “Queen Leah turned up in my office with a _video._ It wasn’t edited. I checked.”

“Mal, it’s not-”

“It’s not what?” Mal spun around, but this time there were tears in her eyes instead of the green glow or cold detachment. The sight gutted him. She gestured wildly with her hands as she spoke, closing the space between them again, “Not that serious? Not like that?” She shook her head angrily, her voice breaking as she admitted, “Because I have gone through _every_ possible scenario trying to work out how I missed it. Trying to work out what the _fuck_ was going through your head to make you think that this was okay.”

“M-” He tried to reach for her again but she stepped back, her hands palms between them. Fire danced in and out of the skin, as if she had no control over where the flames found their home.

“No!” She cut him off again, too far gone to listen to him. She’d had this inside her head for too long - and now he was here, _actually here,_ she needed to get it off her chest. He’d have rather she did this hours ago, even if it was in public, because he might have had a chance of talking her down. “What was it, huh? _When_ did you decide you didn’t want me anymore? Because you did that good a job at faking it, I don’t have a _clue._ I can’t even guess.” She laughed humorlessly, a self-deprecating sound that said she knew she was the butt of the joke, _“When_ did you decide it would be a good idea to lead me on? To talk about starting a family when you’re with someone _else?”_ Mal’s voice broke on the last word, and Ben’s heart broke all over again. But she pushed on, spitting out, “Because I _really_ hope she was worth losing your family over. _”_

Ben frowned at that last part, something about the words not sitting right with him, but he didn’t have any time to process it before Mal stormed away from him. Again. He went after her, _again,_ trying to cut off her pacing, reaching for her despite the flames that were now curling from her left shoulder to her right hip.

“I mean, you can’t be afraid of reprisals from my dad, you didn’t know I existed,” she continued, ignoring him as she stepped out of his reach. He tried saying her name, but she only laughed, now bordering on hysteria, “Or, you know what, maybe you don’t love her. _Maybe_ she was just an easy ride and it went too far and now you can’t get out. Or _maybe_ you’re just as bad as Chad and there’s a dozen _other_ girls waiting in the-“

“Do you hear yourself?” Ben snapped, finally getting a word in. His tone seemed to be enough to shock her into silence, “Because the Mal I know would chop my dick off before she’d let me get away with an affair.”

It was true. Not that he’d ever considered an affair or taking a mistress. But he knew the moment it crossed his mind he’d be a dead man. So dead. _Completely_ dead. Even without Hades as a father in law.

Mal just shook her head in disgust and turned back towards the house, dismissing him, “You aren’t worth the assault charge.”

“I’m not-” Ben repeated, incredulous. It was insane. So insane. She was insane.

And then it clicked.

All this noise. All the anger. This was _just_ like that first fight.

When she tried to deflect the attention from where she really was vulnerable. Back then, she hid behind her mother’s plan, hoping that he wouldn’t realise his assumption she actually was evil had hurt.

“What’s really going on here?”

When her eyes shuttered, Ben knew he was on the right track. This wasn’t about Audrey. Not _really._ He took another step towards her, and this time she didn’t step back. She did, however, scoff and avoid his eyes, “I found out you’re having an affair. It’s really quite simple. Try and keep up.”

“Oh for- I haven’t so much as _looked_ at another girl since you got out that damn limo when we were kids!” He threw his hands in the air before he pointed back at the black marble palace behind them. “Do you really think your dad - _Hades himself -_ would let me into the _Underworld_ to beg you to come home if I had done something like that? He would _murder_ me.”

Mal’s eyes widened, and Ben wasn’t sure if it was from his admission, the volume, or his certainty that he’d be dead. Maybe she thought her father was a teddy bear. He wouldn’t know. _Because she hadn’t told him._

He thought he’d shocked her enough to make some progress, but then the mask slipped back into place and she scoffed again. He was really starting to hate that sound. “He married my mom. Dad’s a terrible judge of character.”

Mal paused, and suddenly the mask slipped. The flames disappeared as she shrunk in on herself, the fight leaving her body. Ben saw the heartbreak deep in her eyes, saw the tears finally spill over, and opened his mouth to-

“Just fuck off back to the surface with Audrey and whoever else is in your little hare-“

“I’m not fucking Audrey!” Ben exploded, stepping forward and grabbing her shoulders roughly. It didn’t matter that she sounded broken and defeated, that he’d been about to say something reassuring - Mal clearly needed something a bit more forceful.

Mal didn’t even react to the move, she just kept staring at a point somewhere near his lapel, pretending she wasn’t crying. Ben reached up to cup her cheek, drawing her gaze up to meet his. It was still guarded, but she wasn't running. Right now, he’d take it.

Softer this time, he continued emphatically, “I’m not fucking Audrey. I’m not in love with Audrey. There are _no_ other girls. It’s been you since I was seventeen. Before the love potions and the wands and broken barriers - it’s always been _you.”_

Mal wanted to believe him. He could tell. He tried to think what kind of evidence Leah could have that would get under Mal’s skin like this. It wasn’t like they... _oh._ He frowned, searching her eyes as he whispered, “Leah showed you my lunch with Audrey didn’t she?”

It was the wrong thing to say.

Mal’s expression shuttered again and she disappeared out of his grasp. One moment he had her, the next there was only smoke. Spinning around frantically - _again,_ he really did not like this level of comfort with her powers - he spotted her on the steps heading back indoors. Swearing under his breath, he took off in a sprint, hoping to catch her before she disappeared into the maze of corridors and rooms.

He caught her just inside the doorway, not slowing as he called after her, “Audrey was talking about you!”

It was _the wrong thing to say._

Mal’s hair burned red, a plume of fire erupting around her. She spun back around, looking every inch the vengeful bringer of death as she growled, “I am aware of th-”

Ben cut her off with a hard kiss.

_Fuck the flames._

Words were getting him nowhere. So he did the only thing he could think of. He kissed her. One hand grabbed her waist, pulling her roughly to his chest as he stepped into the flames. The other tangled in her hair as he crushed his lips to hers. Part of him expected an explosion and to be thrown through a wall and into the river. The rest of him was focused solely on _her._

The way she stiffened for a moment, then leaned into it with everything she had, clinging to him as if she thought he’d disappear on her. The kiss was hard and desperate and Ben poured everything he was struggling to say into it. Mal was just as raw - both hands went to his hair, grasping the roots so he knew she was there. When he tilted his head to deepen the kiss, Mal nipped his lip in warning. Of what he wasn’t sure, but he pulled her closer with a growl anyway.

“I’m yours,” he whispered hoarsely between kisses, knowing she needed to hear it. _“Yours.”_

Finally, when the desperation had faded, and the kisses slowed, Ben pulled back to rest his forehead against hers. He could still see the doubt in her eyes, but there was hope in there too. Making sure he kept eye contact, he explained, “Chad proposed again. Audrey’s sick of saying not yet. She spent lunch begging me to just marry you already.” 

After a long pause, Mal answered cautiously, “They’re not that serious.” 

“That’s what everyone is meant to think.” Ben sighed, kicking himself for staying silent for so long. This one was on him. The plan had been that the fewer people who knew, the less likely it was that Leah would catch on. It didn’t even involve that much lying on Ben’s part, just a lot of looking the other way. “Look, maybe I should have told you as soon as I got home. I _should_ have realised Leah would find out. She spies on Audrey more than anyone. I just had to think it throu-”

“You had to think if you want to marry me?” Mal cut him off, trying to cover her flinch. Her eyes were wide, hurt again, and Ben knew she was moments away from bolting again.

Tightening his grip, he shook his head emphatically. “I’d marry you in a heartbeat.”

Mal froze, finding something in his eyes that she hadn’t found earlier - hadn’t let herself notice earlier - and fixed him with a look that told him he was on a timer to explain.

“I know you’re terrified of marriage.” She tried to object, but Ben cut her off, “You don’t see your face whenever the subject comes up, M.”

“I’m not saying the issue is commitment. I think it’s just...marriage itself. I thought it was a leftover from the Isle. Or that it was something to do with your Mom. I don’t need a piece of paper to tell me you love me. So I put through all that legislation to safeguard our future if you never got to the point where you wanted a wedding.” He paused, kept his eyes fixed on hers, “I didn’t tell you about Audrey because I didn’t know if you’d say yes.”

Mal narrowed her eyes at him, but the look was more familiar. It was the one she pulled out when he pretended to steal the last strawberry or forgot to put his wet towels in the laundry hamper, “You ever think of just asking me?”

“I was going to. You broke up with me before I got that far.” He pointed out dryly, and Mal had the decency to look guilty. And, because he knew exactly what would happen if she found out afterwards, he added, “And then I drank two bottles of whiskey, caused a PR nightmare and made my way through most of a packet of smokes.”

“I _knew_ I could smell- what are you doing?”

He couldn’t help himself. The moment her indignant anger reappeared - _this_ was the Mal who loved him - he couldn’t help it. He crushed her to his chest, clinging on for dear life as he enveloped her in his arms.

“Why are you hugging me?” she continued, sounding adorably confused and muffled from against his leather, “We’re fighting?”

“Shut up.” He murmured into her hair, closing his eyes as he felt his insides knitting back together. He never thought he’d be so happy to be in trouble.

Mal paused, then wound her arms around his waist, shifting so she could lay her head against his chest, “I’m still pissed at you.”

Ben grinned into her hair.

“Don’t care.” His voice was rough, relieved. “Means you still love me.”

“You’re ridiculous.” Mal sighed and he could hear her rolling her eyes. Then she paused again. Then shrugged as she admitted, “I should have stuck around to kill you.”

“You should have.” He agreed, his tone non-judgemental. There really wasn’t anything more he could say to that.

So he just stood there, holding her as she tried to work out what she wanted to say next. He knew he couldn’t force her to work through it quickly, and despite all the progress they’d made since she got off the Isle...maybe he’d underestimated how deeply those wounds ran.

“You don’t hear the things people say, Ben. That’s not going to stop,” she whispered finally, sounding more than a little defeated. _“She’s_ never going to stop. Can we really subject our kids to that?”

Ben frowned, shifting so that he was cradling the back of her head, hoping it offered some level of comfort. If he was being honest, he was surprised at the direction Mal went. He didn’t think she’d noticed. He barely did.

They were royals. People would always talk. Always. No matter what they did.

“I don’t read my own press.” 

He wasn’t sure those were the right words, but they were true. It was the first thing Lumiere had taught him, years ago, when he caught Ben googling his own name. Ben tried to remember the feeling. Tried to remember what he found. But he couldn’t. “Just because I keep on top of what the people are saying...it doesn’t mean I read all the comments. Audrey, Chad and I...people didn’t always like us. We were spoilt little rich kids. No _real_ heroes. Not like our parents.”

He trailed off, unsure of the point he was trying to make. There were no easy answers. Not here. They’d just have to work it out as they went. “People will always talk. We just need to protect them from it until they can shut it out themselves. I guess that’s what Hades tried to do with you.”

Mal shrugged, and when she didn’t say anything else Ben pulled back, searching her eyes for the truth, “Why did you believe it so easily?”

It bothered him, how easily she’d folded. This wasn’t Leah’s first attempt at splitting them up. It wasn’t even her best plan. Something about this time caught a kink in Mal’s armour. Touched a nerve that was just too raw.

He couldn’t risk it happening again.

“I didn’t. Not at first.” Mal admitted, guilt flashing through her eyes. She gazed over his shoulder, out the doorway into the garden, focusing on the destruction her anger had caused, “And then I saw the video. And it was real.”

She sighed. “And....And I ran. I couldn’t…”

Another shrug.

She bit her lip.

She looked up at Ben. 

Then she laughed and started crying again, “God, I don’t even _know_ what’s happening right now. These hormones are going to kill me, aren’t they?”

_Because I really hope she was worth losing your family over._

_I really hope she was worth losing your family over._

_Losing your family..._

“What do you mean _‘hormones’?”_


	9. White Dress

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here we are! It’s done! It took longer to finish off than I anticipated, so thanks for sticking around!
> 
> BillaB - there’s a little Grandpa Jafar snuck in here for you as well!

_ Nine weeks later. _

_ “Oh Mal, _ you look so  _ beautiful.” _ Belle was in tears the moment she entered the suite Evie had taken over to prepare for the wedding.

“No crying.” Evie warned, appearing from nowhere with a box of tissues.

Mal was standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by organised chaos as Evie all but sewed her into her dress there and then. The dress was everything Mal had dreamed of and more. And it was nothing like what anyone would expect.

Much to Evie’s surprise, Mal had turned up for the first planning session fully prepared. Now that she was actually committed to having a wedding...she was doing it properly. A hidden Pinterest board in a fake name with a throwaway email address was only the beginning.

Mal wanted to be that fairytale princess. Even just for a day. It was as much for her as it was for the millions of little girls who would be watching her walk down the aisle. She wanted to combine tradition and modern style and Evie’s flare and her personality. To tell people that if she, Mal from the Isle, could follow her dreams, anyone could.

The end design was a strapless ball gown with a sweetheart neckline. To everyone’s surprise, it was pure white. The lace bodice was designed in such a way that the swirls and leaves and diamonds made you think of Mal’s early Auradon style. The layered tulle skirt looked almost weightless. She had originally suggested a dropped waist, until Evie pointed out that a cinched waist would be more forgiving. Apparently ‘I could just use a glamour’ was  _ not _ the most appropriate response for how to hide a three month baby bump.

Ben was going to cry the moment he turned around.

Somehow, she looked completely different, but exactly like herself.

And she didn’t look like she was about to take part in a shotgun wedding, which was a bonus.

Belle let out a watery chuckle as she let Evie dab the corners of her eyes and fix the make-up before it could smudge. “My son is getting married and my daughter in law looks beautiful and I’m going to be a grandmother...let me have this!”

“You can cry in church once everyone’s taken pictures.” Evie chided, spraying some kind of setting spray in Belle’s face, just in case. Then she bounced back to Mal, tossing over her shoulder, “Don’t worry, Hades will be right there with you.”

Evie was her maid of honour and, true to Auradonian tradition, was also in white. But that was where the tradition ended. The dress was a fitted satin gown with a draped cowl neckline and capped sleeves - a million miles away from the ball gowns Mal had seen in the speculation pages that had popped up after their announcement. It still had a train. Just a little one. They weren’t  _ complete  _ heathens.

“Just remember I want that recording,” Mal laughed as Evie fastened her necklace before carefully repositioning the loose curls. Then she adjusted the tiara once more, just for good luck.

It was Evie’s only sign of nervousness, flitting around like a hummingbird, making sure everything was perfect.

It was already perfect. But Evie wouldn’t believe that until it was over.

Mal didn’t need a year to plan the wedding or six thousand guests or a live stream from Auradon Abbey.

She just needed Ben. And her family.

Everything else was a bonus.

…

“She’s in here.” 

Mal heard the murmur from the palace aide, followed by the door closing softly. It was a lot calmer than she’d expected. But then again, everyone was probably too scared to make any sudden moves around her family.

Between the childlike excitement of Jafar and EQ and the ongoing Cold War between her parents...the staff were probably still in shock. When Maleficent didn’t say anything, Mal took a deep breath and turned slowly to face her mother.

She kept her face deliberately blank, waiting for the reaction. She was ready for insults. For the disparaging comments about her dress or love or Ben. But it was her wedding day. And her mother was here. Maleficent had gotten in the limo and promised to behave. So was it so wrong to hope…

Maleficent was studying her carefully, her own expression just as guarded. Mal was surprised how different her mother looked without her robes and cloak. The dress and coat set Evie had created was such a deep purple it was almost black, the cut stylish yet harsh. It screamed power...it suited her mother. EQ’s was similar, but in a deep shade of blue, and aiming for stylish sophistication instead of power.

EQ had gushed for hours over the drawings. Maleficent had just rolled her eyes. It was their way.

It had been a crazy twelve hours.

When Mal told Ben she wanted her family there...he’d taken some convincing. Jay took even more. Carlos was just thankful his mother was long gone, because no one needed to deal with that kind of crazy. They had forty eight hours in Auradon, but Mal had a feeling that might get extended. At least for two out of the three.

Jafar had stepped out of the limo and made a beeline for Jay and Lyla. He brought her a lamp - to represent her heritage, he’d explained. And then he’d barely put the baby down. Evie had nervously introduced EQ to Doug and handed over the drawing for her wedding outfit. The gushing began immediately. She’d even been  _ polite _ to Doug.  _ I like this one. Much better than those boys who used to follow you about the Isle. _ But Maleficent...she’d just watched.

She was polite. Civil, even. She’d been invited, and Maleficent of the Moors was the perfect  _ guest. _

But she was playing her cards close to her chest. And Mal couldn’t work out what was going on in her mother’s head any more than she could when she was a child.

Mal almost expected her mother to nod briskly and leave the room now that she’d seen the dress. But instead, she fought to keep the surprise off her when her mother asked slowly, “You’re sure about this?”

Taken aback, she froze, then she smiled, “Yeah. Yeah I am.”

Maleficent nodded, closing the distance between them and taking Mal’s hands. This time Mal couldn’t contain her surprise. It was the first time her mother had ever...done this. She knew the gesture - Evie and Belle were both very touchy feely. But if Maleficent had ever done this...it was before Mal could remember.

“I. You.” Her mother seemed to struggle with herself for a moment. Mal could see some kind of emotion in her eyes...more than she’d ever seen before. It was softer. Alien.  _ Her mother was looking at her with something other than anger or disappointment.  _ Maleficent took a deep breath and tried again, “You look...happy. And...prettier than Evie.”

Tears immediately sprung to Mal’s eyes.

It was stunted and awkward and it was the nicest thing her mother had ever said to her.

_ “Mom.” _ Surprising them both, she threw her arms around her mother and held tight. Getting their parents off the Isle had definitely been the right call. Even a leopard could change its spots just a little.

“Oh, enough of that,” Maleficent muttered after a long moment, patting Mal’s head awkwardly. “Evie will be completely insufferable if you smudge your make-up.”

Laughing, Mal stepped back and with a flick of her wrist restored anything that might have moved out of place. Maleficent didn't even blink, and for a moment Mal wondered what it would have been like to grow up in Auradon with both parents. Being comfortable with her magic her whole life, like they were. Before her mind could go any further, Maleficent was talking again.

“Oh. And before I forget. Something old and borrowed and blue.” Seemingly from nowhere - so probably inside a pocket, Mal had performed the magic block herself - Maleficent produced Hades’ ember. “Swiped it off your father. Give it back afterwards if you want. Or don’t.”

“Mom! How?” Mal laughed, but took the ember anyway. Her father was going to be pissed. He had to already know it was gone. But he’d let Maleficent give her it anyway.

“That man doesn’t know what to do with me. He  _ hates  _ it.” There was a wicked gleam in her mother’s eye that made Mal laugh again. She did  _ not _ need to know that about her parents. “Now. While it’s just us, tell me, what  _ really _ happened to Queen Leah. That old crow was too stubborn to just up and die.”

Mal paused, shooting Maleficent her own wicked grin.

_ “It’s awfully late for Dowager Queens to be awake and taking phone calls.” Hades stepped out of the shadow as Queen Leah replaced the telephone on her bedside table. _

_ “Awfully late for gods to be lurking in dark corners eavesdropping.” Leah countered dryly, making no move to deny what he’d just heard, “What do you want?” _

_ “What can I say. Someone commits treason, I’m drawn to the chaos.” Hades shrugged lazily, leading against the bedpost. As if they’d met in the park on their afternoon strolls. _

_ “It’s not treason.” Leah was offended at the accusation, “I’m simply saving Ben from himself by getting rid of that fairy he thinks deserves to be Queen.” _

_ “And then Audrey sweeps in to take her place?” _

_ “It’ll take some persuading,” she shrugged, reaching over to grab her book from the pillow. She opened it, bored now, and didn’t looo up as she added, “I have to deal with Charming’s idiotic son first. But, alas, that is tomorrow’s job.” _

_ Hades frowned, but his tone stayed conversational, light, “And what does Audrey think of all this?” _

_ “She’ll understand. In time.” _

_ “You’ve got it all worked out, haven’t you.” He scoffed, his tone suddenly turning dangerous. “There’s just...one thing.” _

_ Leah looked up, and gasped when she saw the fire in his eyes.  _

_ “ _ **_No one_ ** _ makes my little girl cry.” _

Mal shrugged easily, the glint in her eyes betraying her, “What can I say? It was her time.”

Maleficent’s eyes flashed green for a moment - harmless, she couldn’t  _ use _ the magic - before she threw back her head and let out a cackle.

It was a truly evil sound. But Mal simply grinned and let her have her moment. Her mother was still in there, despite the earlier emotion.  _ This  _ was the soundtrack to her childhood.

At some point, she’d forgotten. It wasn’t  _ all _ bad.

…

_ To those of you who’ve just joined us, we’re here watching live coverage of the guests arriving for Prince Benjamin and Lady Mal’s wedding! _

_ I’m Ali Hale, daughter of Alice and Hatter, filling in for Snow White while she attends the  _ **_wedding of the year._ **

_ All the guests sitting in the nave have been seated - those are our celebrity guests, the couple’s charity partners, our diplomatic guests, and it really is a who's who of a guest list. _

_ We’re watching the coaches arrive with the guests who will sit in behind the choir - these are the guests who really mean something to the couple, their extended family, their friends, and we’re told a select few Council Members will be in here as well. _

_ This really is a reduced guest list as well - Ben and Mal only gave a month’s notice for their wedding, so soon after the mourning period for Queen Leah ended, and some people just can’t make it. _

_ Oh, there’s the guests arriving now as they cross the courtyard and enter the church. _

_ Not too many surprises there - we have Hannah Hale, my darling older sister, in a kaleidoscope style dress - nothing new there. And we have King Eric and Queen Ariel with Princess Melody - rocking the sea green colour scheme, if I do say so myself. And there we have Jasmine and Aladdin with Aziz. I don’t want to  _ **_think_ ** _ about the commute they had, given they were in Australia two days ago on tour! But that’s the price you pay when your Crown Prince announces his wedding with a month's notice! _

_ Oh, and what’s this? That’s...that’s Aphrodite and Hermes. And that’s Poseidon. Wha- Wow this really is the wedding of the year! *whisper* Do you think that’s why there’s nymphs in the nave? _

_ And sitting next to Poseidon we have the Generals Li. A wise choice, they won’t be too intimidated by the arrangement! _

_ And oh look! That’s the cars pulling in with the guests who will sit at the on either side of the altar! _

_ Prince Ben and his best man Doug are the first to arrive, as per tradition. They’ll greet the Archbishop and then head into the Chapel of Saint Michael to await the rest of the guests and Mal. Oh look at him, he’s so excited. I want someone to smile like that on my wedding day. _

_ Oh and here’s another limo. There’s Queen Ella and King Charming...and oh, there’s Queen Aurora and King Phillip too. That’s an...odd combination. Normally they’d travel sep- oh. Okay. There’s Princess Audrey and Prince Chad...together? _

_ And Audrey is wearing...dusty pink. Not black. _

_ That’s...um...I’m not sure what the protocol is for that. She just didn’t want to look back at the pictures and see herself in mourning, I guess? I mean, it’s only been two months since Queen Leah’s funeral… _

_ Oh, wait, we have a statement from the Rose family… “Queen Leah was a much loved mother and grandmother who had a full life. We miss her dearly but know she would want us to live our lives without the shadow of her passing.” Okay. Well. That settles that I guess… _

_ Oh look! Another car! I suspect this will be Fairy Godmother and Jane...oh it is! And Carlos! Don’t they just look lovely! Everyone is in Evie4Hearts originals - I swear that girl must have been working day and night to get ready for the big day! _

_ Oh and here’s Jay and Lonnie and baby Lyla. Isn’t she just adorable! Oh. Wait. That’s not- *gasp* _

_ *choking* _

_ *squeak* That’s Jafar. _

_ I. Um. Okay. That’s Jafar. Holding. Holding baby Lyla. Okay. *whisper* Is he allowed to do that? _

_ Oh. Um. Thank you. Um. Okay. So I have a statement here from Beast Castle. Jafar, the Evil Queen and Maleficent have been allowed off the Isle for the wedding. As they are Mal’s family irrespective of villainy. They’ve been here since last night and the enchantment to block any acts of villainy was performed by Mal herself. _

_ The Evil Queen would like everyone to know she is very proud of her daughter Evie. And Jafar would like everyone to look at his granddaughter in her little dress. Okay. Well. Okay. _

_ Oh,  _ **_look._ ** _ Jafar is standing in the West Door with Lonnie and Lyla. How adorable. _

_ Oh and here’s another car… oh. It’s Zeus and Hera. That’s unexpected! I wonder what Ben and Mal did to get the King of the Gods at their wedding… _

_ And here’s King Adam and Queen Belle, looking absolutely radiant. Oh they look so happy don’t they! Oh, they’re talking to Jafar and Lyla. Well if anyone can make amends… Belle is in a lovely lemon coat and dress set, while Adam is in his ceremonial uniform in his role as Commander of the Auradon Guard. The navy is a change for our High King but I can’t say I’m complaining. _

_ Oh, they’re taking their seats. Adam must not be walking Mal down the aisle. Beast Castle still hasn’t confirmed who will be performing that duty. _

_ Wait. What if it’s Maleficent? _

_ Oh. It’s them. It’s the Evil Queen and Maleficent. And Evie. Oh.  _ **_Oh, look at Evie’s dress_ ** _. _

_ I did not expect that. But I should have. It’s so perfect. And look at that shape… _

_ Oh, look, Maleficent isn’t in a cloak. Both Maleficent and the Evil Queen are in deep...purple? coat and dress sets. They look very regal. And they’re smiling. I think. _

_ Now everyone is in the West Doorway. Oh and the vil- family of the bride are taking their seats. Jay appears to be daring someone to say something, but I never expected Jafar and the Evil Queen to be so...excitable? _

_ Oh what’s that? Maleficent just said something. What? She said- *laughs* “What are you all worried about, I was invited this time.” Hey, you might as well own it! _

_ So that leaves Evie in the West Doorway, waiting for Mal. _

_ Oh! It’s the trumpets! Oh and here’s the car! _

_ Oh  _ **_look_ ** _ at her. I can’t even see it yet but I think she’s in white! _

_ She is! She’s in white! _

**_Oh look at that dress!_ **

_ So from Beast Castle - this dress was designed by Lady Mal and Evie4Hearts. And she’s wearing the…she’s wearing the Cartier Halo Tiara from Aphrodite’s personal collection. Crafted by Hephaestus himself. It comes with all the magical powers one would expect from a godly...tiara. _

_ *pause* _

_ Does anyone else feel like we’re...missing something? Just me? Why is half of Olympus in that chapel and gifting tiaras? _

_ Oh and  _ **_here’s_ ** _ another memo from Beast Castle. Who is sending these? Cogsworth and Lumiere are both sitting behind the choir and crying already. _

_ Oh right, what does it say. I’m missing Evie organising Mal’s train! Okay. It says that Mal will be given away by her father. _

_ Well, who’s that? There’s no one else in the doorwa-ahh! _

_ … _

“You ready?” Evie grinned, stopping in front of Mal to organise the front of her dress now that the train was settled.

Mal just beamed back at her, not trusting herself to nod and risk it being picked up on the live feed. She glanced around, remembering the first time she’d been on these steps. At Ben’s Investiture as Crown Prince. A lifetime ago.

She felt the now familiar flutter in her stomach. And now she was about to embark on her next lifetime.

With her  _ whole _ family beside her.

An aide brought them both their bouquets and Evie squealed in excitement before she moved to stand in front. A quick flick of her wrist and Evie’s train was in position too.

The crowd on the other side of the courtyard wouldn't see it, but the cameras would.

_ Step one. Make magic more obvious. Check. _

They were ready to go.

So they waited. 

The timed memos would have landed now about her father.

_ One.  _

Mal could feel the cameras on them, waiting for them to move. For the music to begin. Ben would be at the altar by now.

_ Two. _

She could sense the confusion coming from the crowd. She vaguely wondered how many people would wonder if she was about to bolt.

_ Three. _

Right on cue, blue flames erupted to her left. 

The crowd gasped. Someone screamed. The courtiers, however, were expecting this and jumped into action. Door opened. Screens flickered to life. Trumpets sounded. The organ began to play.

Evie took her first step forward, and Mal looked off to her left with a grin. 

Her father, Hades himself, stood there in a  _ suit _ with his hand outstretched.

He’d already told her in the suite that she looked beautiful. Had already given her her pep talk. Had offered to call the whole thing off if she wanted. Told her to keep the ember. 

There was nothing left to say except, “Shall we?”

Mal was pretty sure her face might break as she slipped her arm into his, “We shall.”

…

_ Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today, in the sight of many gods, and in the face of this congregation, to join together this man and this woman in Holy Matrimony… _


End file.
